January 20, 2009

Obama Celebrates Holiday With Service

By BRIAN KNOWLTON

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama rolled up his sleeves on Monday and helped out at a homeless center, devoting much of his last full day as president-elect to paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and to the spirit
of volunteerism and public service he said Mr. King represented.

Mr. Obama began the day visiting wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, his second homage to the military in two days, after a somber visit Sunday to Arlington National Cemetery. Mr. Obama was accompanied
at Walter Reed by Martin Luther King III.

Monday is the federal holiday commemorating the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights icon, who for some people foreshadowed the ascendance of someone like Obama with his “I Have a Dream” speech
delivered in 1963 from the Lincoln Memorial.

“Today, we celebrate the life of a preacher who, more than forty-five years ago, stood on our national mall in the shadow of Lincoln and shared his dream for our nation,” Obama said in a statement. “His
was a vision that all Americans might share the freedom to make of our lives what we will; that our children might climb higher than we would.

“Dr. Martin Luther King’s was a life lived in loving service to others. As we honor that legacy, it’s not a day just to pause and reflect — it’s a day to act.” He called on
ordinary Americans to take part Monday in public service projects across the country and then to make “an ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of others in their communities, their cities and their country.”

It was a call to service not unlike that issued by another young American leader, President John F. Kennedy, though perhaps with added resonance because of Obama’s experience as a community organizer working
with the jobless and needy on the South Side of Chicago.

In late morning, Obama arrived at the Sasha Bruce House, said to be the only emergency shelter for homeless teens in Washington. Television showed him doffing his overcoat and
rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt — which he wore tieless, and with an open collar — before helping paint a wall shades of blue, using a roller with an extension handle. He chatted easily with
the young people, and at one point appeared to bend over to tie a shoe.

The house, situated about 10 blocks northeast of the Capitol Building, seeks to provide homeless teens with a sense of comfort and community; residents stay in furnished apartments, and the center trains them in cooking,
cleaning and computer use, and counsels them in finding work and medical help, with an emphasis on cultivating self-reliance.

Separately, Michelle Obama and Vice president-elect Joseph Biden Jr. arrived, amid considerable excitement, to take part in other service projects.

On Tuesday, as the inauguration and inaugural parade occupy much of the heart of the day, workers will be moving the Bushes out of the White House and the Obamas in within a six-hour period.

President George W. Bush, during his last full day in office, spoke by phone to several world leaders. The White House said that he chatted with the leaders of Russia, Georgia, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, South
Korea, Israel, Brazil, Japan and Britain. He also spoke to Vicente Fox, the former Mexican president. It was not clear whether he would make other calls.

A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said that the president had thanked the leaders for their cooperation and hospitality over the years.